Deconstructing Dinner

Since the Local Grain Revoltuion series first aired in March 2008, a lot has transpired as a result of that broadcast. The Nelson-Creston grain community supported agriculture (CSA) project has been mentioned in the House of Commons; it was a feature in a May issue of The Globe an Mail; and people from across North America have become inspired to seek out locally grown grain.

On this exciting part II of the series, Host Jon Steinman travels along with the first CSA tour, where members and farmers met for the first time. Members were given the opportunity to see the grain that would soon become their bread, cakes or pasta.

So long as the will and effort of a community chooses to make it happen, this broadcast captures just how easily we can all work together to resurrect local food systems.

Voices

Matt Lowe, Climate Change Campaigner, West Kootenay EcoSociety (Nelson, BC) - The West Kootenay EcoSociety promotes ecologically and socially sound communities while protecting species and ecosystems in the Southern Columbia Mountains ecoregion. Matt is the co-founder of the grain CSA.

Roy Lawrence, Farmer, Lawrence Farm (Creston, BC) - Roy is a third-generation farmer. He has long farmed using conventional methods but sees the CSA as an opportunity to transition to growing naturally.

Keith Huscroft, Farmer, Huscroft Farm (Lister, BC) - Keith is a fourth-generation farmer. His great-grandparents were the first white settlers in the Creston Valley and his farm has been in operation for about 100 years. Keith takes all measures to ensure no inputs are required on his farm. He uses mixed farming practices and fertilizes using only animal and green manures. He is one of a shrinking number of farmers farming with horses instead of fossil-fuel dependent technologies.

Tammy Hardwick, Manager, Creston & District Museum (Creston, BC) - Much of Creston's history is rooted in agriculture, however, much of this history is now found indoors at the Creston museum.

Many forms of urban agriculture have existed for thousands of years.

As practical and environmentally responsible as growing food within a city can be, the art of gardening has seemingly disappeared in many urban settings. As current farming practices are proving to be unsustainable in the long-term, urban agriculture is looked upon by many as being a critical shift that needs to take place if we are to ensure a level of food security in the near and distant future.

Since March 2008, The Farming in the City series has been incorporating a focus on urban backyard chickens.

Raising poultry within an urban setting provides eggs, fertilizer, garden help and meat with a minimal environmental footprint. Having suffered decades of disconnection from our food, bringing the farm into the city (and in this case animals), can provide a much needed dose of agriculture and food awareness. It's this very disconnection that has allowed for the appalling conditions now found in factory egg and chicken barns.

Episode III Since Part I of the series introduced a backyard chickener defying a municipal bylaw, a Nelson couple has too joined the ranks of Christoph Martens. Not long after Steve and Hazel took up urban backyard chickening themselves, they sought the experience of Martens to teach them the art of slaughtering. Host Jon Steinman returned to Martens home to record the evening meal!

And lending his voice once again to the series is Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken Broadcast. Produced in Boise, Idaho at Radio Boise, Bucky hosts weekly segments on backyard chickening. His experience and knowledge can help guide any urbanite wishing to set up backyard chickens. On this third episode of the series, we listen in on three Bucky segments on the topic of eggs.

Guests/Voices

Christoph Martens - Backyard Chicken Farmer (Nelson, BC) - Christoph has spent the last three years working towards greater self-sufficiency. He grows food year-round on his small city property and discovered that chickens are, among other benefits, an ideal pest management tool. He accommodates chickens, ducks and rabbits. Christoph believes the long-standing notion that city-life should be separated from farming has "run it's course" and it's time to move on from this "pseudo-royalty".

Steve and Hazel - Backyard Chicken Farmers (Nelson, BC) - Steve and Hazel are rookie backyard chicken enthusiasts who now house chickens within a city that does not allow them

Bucky Buckaw - Host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (Boise, ID) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens, as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers. He shares fascinating chicken lore from the millennia that will fascinate even those with no interest in birds.

Launching this episode, we travel to Cuba - a country that has over the past 10 years become of increasing interest to those around the world interested in more ecological models of producing food.

Contrary to the more voluntary means through which some North Americans have adopted and supported more energy efficient and ecological food choices, in 1989, Cubans had little choice. As a result of the Soviet collapse, Cubans were plunged into a situation whereby conventional models of farming had to be abandoned for more organic models.

Deconstructing Dinner correspondent Andrea Langlois travelled to Cuba where she met with Fernando Funes Monzoté - the son of one of the most recognized founders of the Cuban organic agriculture movement - Dr. Fernando Funes Sr. His son has followed in his footsteps and is presently completing his Ph.D on more diversified mixed farming systems at the University of Matanzas.

As the past 17 years has proven to be a regeneration of more biodiverse and ecological food production in Cuba, there has, in tandem, also been an increase in the attention paid to biological systems. Just as the circumstances pushing Cuba to more ecological food production have too begun to impact us here in North America, the second half of today's episode will introduce us to some of our smaller friends, who are, and will increasingly, become more important to the production of our food; insects.

In March 2008, Deconstructing Dinner recorded a workshop titled "Predator, Pollinator, Parasite"; hosted at the 2008 conference of the Certified Organic Associations of BC.

Guests

Fernando Funes Monzoté - Researcher, University of Matanzas (Matanzas, Cuba) - Fernando Funes is the son of celebrated agricultural figure Dr. Fernando Funes Sr., whose organic farming association was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (otherwise known as the alternative Nobel) in 1999. Fernando Funes Monzote has since followed in his footsteps after graduating in 1995 from the University of Havana. Since then he has worked in one of the research institutions in Cuba's Ministry of Agriculture, and after 13 years of research, is just about finished his Ph.D thesis at the University of Matanzas. His research is on mixed farming systems as part of the University's pasture and forage research institute.

Deborah Henderson - Director, Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen University College (Surrey, BC) - Deborah is dedicated to the potential for integrated efforts in conservation biological pest control and sustainable landscaping. Dr. Henderson, along with Kwantlen University College's School of Horticulture and the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture established a Conservation Biological Control trial Garden, or "Bug Garden" which will be a valuable resource to provide class materials and a living lab for students to practice horticulture activities and study plants, pests, and beneficial insects and the relationship between them.

Fred Eaglesmith Deconstructing Dinner has long incorporated music into many of our episodes. From Phil Vernon's tunes about Percy Schmeiser, Biotechnology and Terminator Seeds, to Terry Winchell's Pesticide Song and Todd Butler's Farmer Dan, there is clearly no shortage of tunes out there that help add to our weekly content.

In the second half of this episode, we meet with one musician who has long been writing pieces about farming and rural life in Southern Ontario and that is well-known bluegrass performer Fred Eaglesmith. The Juno Award winner has been compared to such icons as Woody Guthrie and Bruce Spingsteen and is the only Canadian musician to have ever held a #1 spot on the Bluegrass charts in the United States. His song John Deere has been played on the show before, and Host Jon Steinman finally had the opportunity to sit down with Fred in person and learn more about his personal history with farming and what inspires some of the heartfelt content making its way into his songs. A few tunes in particular do a great job at capturing the many crises facing Canadian farmers today. And while farmers did once flock to hear Fred perform, the messages in his music are unfortunately confirmed by those who attend his shows today. To use a title of one of Fred's songs, "Things is Changin'", because farmers are no longer in regular attendance at his shows. As Fred puts it, there are hardly any farmers left!

Cross-Canada Trike Tour IV On May 7, 2008, Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic departed Victoria from the 0-Mile mark of the Trans-Canada Highway and embarked on a cross-Canada journey to raise awareness of Deconstructing Dinner. The pair are travelling by recumbent tricycles (or trikes).

This third installment of the Cross-Canada Trike tour begins at the Quebec border and takes us through to their final destination of Newfoundland.

Guests

Fred Eaglesmith - Musician, Fred Eaglesmith (Port Dover, ON) - Country-folk singer/songwriter Fred J. Eaglesmith was one of nine children born to a farming family in rural southern Ontario. Often employing his difficult upbringing as raw material for his heartland narratives, he issued his self-titled debut LP in 1980. He recorded infrequently throughout the remainder of the decade, releasing only two more albums, The Boy That Just Went Wrong and Indiana Road. However, Eaglesmith gradually became an underground favorite in his native Canada, thanks largely to a relentless touring schedule in tandem with bassist Ralph Schipper and mandolinist Willie P. Bennett.

Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic - Cross-Canada Cyclists, Deconstructing Dinner Cross-Canada Trike Tour (Monkton, ON / London, ON) - Cyclists Sinisa Grgic and Darrick Hahn are old high-school friends based in Southwestern Ontario and are the proprietors of Fresh Entertainment. Darrick grew up on a farm in Monkton, Ontario and Sinisa, who is originally from Croatia, moved to Canada 17 years ago.

Other Audio

People and the Land - Deep Dish TV (New York, NY) - The ongoing "farm crisis" has had a devastating impact not only on the lives of individual farm families, but also on the towns they live in and the land now taken over by the corporate farms. Shortsighted exploitation has eroded the healthfulness of the land and the food it produces. From pastors in Wisconsin to Native Americans in Utah, people around the country agree that the way out of the crisis lies in changing people's attitudes. The land and people must be seen not as resources to be consumed, but as part of a spiritual whole. Produced by Wade Britzius and Marilyn Klinkner (Whitehall, WI).

The Livestock Lost series examines the farming and business of meat, dairy and egg production. It explores the known and unknown dangers of meat production and what people can do to source alternatives to what many would refer to as a cultural staple of the North American diet.

Part III - Local Meat? "Not in My Backyard? II" In this third installment of the series, we continue with our examination of how one community is responding to more restrictive slaughterhouse regulations in the face of increasing demand for safe and humanely-produced local meat.

As of now, it is illegal to purchase locally raised and slaughtered meat within many regions of British Columbia. Our focus on the response in the West Kootenay region of the province provides a great example of how such a project may be received if proposed in other North American communities.

While the critical questioning of any proposed development in a community is indeed a healthy process to undertake collectively, it became clear on Part II that much of the opposition to the abattoir were emotional responses of fear that led to condemning instead of questioning.

Part III presents an even greater focus on one of the most important concerns for any community - water. It was this very concern over water that acted as one of the major setbacks to the slaughterhouse proposed in the Slocan Valley.

Guests/Voices

Kenyon McGee, Spokesperson, Slocan Valley Abattoir Co-operative (Winlaw, BC) - Kenyon is a lawyer with Kenyon McGee Law Corporation and has been involved with the abattoir co-operative since it was first formed in 2007. He has lived in the area for 30 years and has had experience raising and butchering livestock.

Marilyn Burgoon, Director, "Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance" (Winlaw, BC) - The Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance is a non-profit society formed in 1982. The SVWA is a coalition of local watershed groups from the communities of Hills to South Slocan. Since its formation, the Alliance has worked to protect water quality, quantity and timing of flow. The Alliance opposed the proposed abattoir in the Slocan Valley.

Bruce Davidson, Vice-Chair, Concerned Walkerton Citizens (Walkerton, ON) - Since 2000, Bruce has been publicly speaking on the Walkerton water contamination tragedy that took the lives of seven community residents and made 2,500 ill. The contamination was the result of complex series of events that began with e.coli entering into the public drinking water supply from a cattle farm. Bruce sits on the board of the Canadian Environmental Law Association and is involved in his local source protection board.

Audio Clips

"Tar Sands & Water" - Produced by Macdonald Stainsby, Dru Oja Jay and Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

Voices Celina Harpe, Elder, Fort MacKay First Nation (Fort MacKay, AB) Morris McDonald, Fort MacKay First Nation (Fort MacKay, AB) George Poitras, Misikew Cree First Nation (Fort Chipewyan, AB) David Schindler, Professor Biological Sciences, University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB)

The Livestock Lost series examines the farming and business of meat, dairy and egg production. It will explore the known and unknown dangers of meat production and what people can do to source alternatives to what many would refer to as a cultural staple of the North American diet.

Part II - Local Meat? "Not in My Backyard?" In this second installment of the series, we examine how one community is responding to more restrictive slaughterhouse regulations in the face of increasing demand for safe and humanely-produced local meat.

The narrow Slocan Valley, situated in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, is home to many small-scale farmers raising livestock. The region is one of many in the province without a licensed slaughterhouse -- and any sale of local meat in the area is now deemed criminal, according to regulations put in place in October 2007.

In response, a co-operative abattoir (slaughterhouse) group was formed to ensure that meat can continue to be processed legally in the region. However, the group is now facing opposition from nearby meat-eaters and vegetarians who don't want an abattoir in their neighborhoods.

Guests/Voices

Kenyon McGee, Spokesperson, Slocan Valley Abattoir Co-operative (Winlaw, BC) - Kenyon is a lawyer with Kenyon McGee Law Corporation and has been involved with the abattoir co-operative since it was first formed in 2007. He has lived in the area for 30 years and has had experience raising and butchering livestock.

Corky Evans, MLA Nelson-Creston / NDP Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Lands, "New Democratic Party of British Columbia" (Winlaw, BC) - Corky Evans was elected as the MLA for Nelson Creston in 1991, and was re-elected in 1996. He was once again elected to represent his constituents on May 17, 2005. Corky has ten years experience as an MLA, during which time he served in many cabinet portfolios, including Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. He now serves as Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Lands.

Abra Brynne, MIES Help Desk, British Columbia Food Processors Association (BCFPA) (Nelson, BC) - Abra has been hired part-time to work with the BCFPA's Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy (MIES). Her role is to work with producers in the southern part of the Province and assist them in the transition to the new inspection regulations put in place in October 2007.

Co-operatives: Alternatives to Industrial Food IV (Community Farms Program)

It's been a topic of discussion throughout many broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner: While there is clearly a widespread interest in supporting more localized food systems, the bigger picture of how such systems can be physically, economically and politically sustained is a far more complicated and serious matter.

So long as our food and farming continues to be built upon the same market-based systems of economics that govern all else, the preservation and access to farmland in close proximity to urban centres will only become increasingly harder to maintain. In most parts of the country agricultural land has become next to worthless for the production of food and we now watch cities sprawl into the fertile soil.

So what's the solution?

One solution is a project currently being expanded upon by The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) and Vancouver-based FarmFolk/CityFolk. The program is called The Community Farms Program; first mentioned on Deconstructing Dinner on April 19, 2007.

While specific to British Columbia, this is a model that could be applied anywhere in North America.

'Community farms' represent a more holistic model of food production than the more conventional approaches. They produce additional outputs to food and fibre, such as: ecological services, bioenergy, landscape preservation, employment, cultural heritage, food quality and safety, and animal welfare.

A farm that becomes a part of the Community Farms Program is collectively owned in public trust, long-term leases are assigned for local food production, and farmers are housed on the land. Agricultural activities are small-scale and intensive, and are carried out by a group of people working collaboratively or cooperatively.

This segment uses recordings compiled by Deconstructing Dinner at the 2008 conference of the Certified Organic Associations of BC (COABC) held in Saanich.

Cross-Canada Trike Tour III On May 7, 2008, Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic departed Victoria from the 0-Mile mark of the Trans-Canada Highway and embarked on a cross-Canada journey to raise awareness of Deconstructing Dinner. The pair are travelling by recumbent tricycles (or trikes).

This third installment of the Cross-Canada Trike tour begins at the Manitoba border and takes us through their time in Ontario.

Guests/Voices

Ramona Scott - Manager, Agricultural Programs The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) (Victoria, BC) - In 2006, Ramona established two farm co-ops. The land was purchased and co-operatively managed by their respective communities. These operations are the first of its kind in Canada and provide models for future projects.

Heather Pritchard - Executive Director FarmFolk/CityFolk (Vancouver, BC) - Heather has over 40 years experience assisting non-profits, co-operatives and small businesses with financial planning, organizational development and personnel management. She is a member of Glorious Organics Cooperative, a certified organic farm business operating from Fraser Common Farm Cooperative in the Fraser Valley.

Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic - Cross-Canada Cyclists Deconstructing Dinner Cross-Canada Trike Tour (Monkton, ON / London, ON) - Cyclists Sinisa Grgic and Darrick Hahn are old high-school friends based in Southwestern Ontario and are the proprietors of Fresh Entertainment. Darrick grew up on a farm in Monkton, Ontario and Sinisa, who is originally from Croatia, moved to Canada 17 years ago.

The Livestock Lost series will examine the farming and business of meat, dairy and egg production in far more depth than has already been done here on the show. It will examine the known and unknown dangers of meat production and what people can do to source alternatives to what many would refer to as a cultural staple of the North American diet.

Part I - Slaughterhouses and the Culture of Meat On this Part I of the series we hear from Toronto author Susan Bourette. After going undercover at the Maple Leaf Foods slaughterhouse and processing plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Susan became deeply disturbed at the state in which meat and animals have been degraded. It was this experience that led her to embark on a journey to learn if meat still maintained any cultural significance in North America other than as an industrial commodity. She titled the product of her journey "Carnivore Chic", because as Susan discovered, meat eating does continue to be a cultural experience in some areas of the continent while in others, meat is once again becoming "cool".

Whether it be food safety, animal welfare, human health and environmental concerns, Canadians are no doubt being presented with every reason to rethink where our meat is coming from. There's just one problem: The availability of meat that one may feel safer purchasing (meat that is healthier, that is more humanely produced and has less of an environmental impact) is not so easy to source. This is especially the case in British Columbia.

In May of 2006, Deconstructing Dinner was the first media outlet to cover the controversial new meat inspection regulations. The topic was revisited in 2007 and will be covered once again as a part of the Livestock Lost series. Prior to October 2007, it was legal for a British Columbian to show up at a farm and purchase meat from a farmer. That choice is no longer afforded to anyone because all meat sold in the province must now be processed at a federally or provincially licensed facility. Many areas of the province are without such a facility and as a result, farmers across the province have been closing up shop and/or considering an occupation change.

Meanwhile, the Province of British Columbia continues to promote local food!

Guests/Voices

Susan Bourette, Author, Carnivore Chic (Toronto, ON) - Susan is an award-winning writer with a reputation for investigative journalism. Formerly a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she is now a freelance writer.

Corky Evans, MLA Nelson-Creston / NDP Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Lands, "New Democratic Party of British Columbia" (Winlaw, BC) - Corky Evans was elected as the MLA for Nelson Creston in 1991, and was re-elected in 1996. He was once again elected to represent his constituents on May 17, 2005. Corky has ten years experience as an MLA, during which time he served in many cabinet portfolios, including Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. He now serves as Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Lands.

Jenny MacLeod, Secretary, District 'A' Farmers' Institutes (Gabriola Island, BC) - The District 'A' Farmers' Institutes represents all farmers' institutes on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Powell River.

Tony Toth, Former CEO, BC Food Processors Association (BCFPA) (Vancouver, BC) - The BCFPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to represent all segments of the food, beverage and nutraceutical processing industry, and to coordinate common industry activities and resources under one umbrella. The organization was asked by the province to manage the implementation of the meat inspection regulation changes announced in 2004. In August 2007, Tony Toth was interviewed by Connie Watson on the CBC's The Current. Segments from this interview are featured

Audio Clips

"Meats With Approval" (1946) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Many forms of urban agriculture have existed for thousands of years.

As practical and environmentally responsible as growing food within a city can be, the art of gardening has seemingly disappeared in many urban settings. As current farming practices are proving to be unsustainable in the long-term, urban agriculture is looked upon by many as being a critical shift that needs to take place if we are to ensure a level of food security in the near and distant future.

Since March 2008, The Farming in the City series has been incorporating a focus on urban backyard chickens.

Raising poultry within an urban setting provides eggs, fertilizer, garden help and meat with a minimal environmental footprint. Having suffered decades of disconnection from our food, bringing the farm into the city (and in this case animals), can provide a much needed dose of agriculture and food awareness. It's this very disconnection that has allowed for the appalling conditions now found in factory egg and chicken barns.

Lending their voice yet again to the series is Bucky Buckaw and his Backyard Chicken Broadcast. Produced in Boise, Idaho at Radio Boise, Bucky hosts weekly segments on backyard chickening. His experience and knowledge can help guide any urbanite wishing to set up backyard chickens.

Episode II On this second episode of the series, we listen in on five Bucky Buckaw episodes: Breeds, Cleanliness, Poop, Pre-Manufactured Chicken Coops and the Economics of Commercial Backyard Chickening..

Guests/Voices

Bucky Buckaw - Host, Bucky Buckaw's Backyard Chicken Broadcast (Boise, ID) - Bucky Buckaw gives advice on raising backyard chickens, as just one example of how a locally based economy can work. Through this segment, he informs listeners about the downside of factory farming and what kinds of toxic chemicals you can expect to find in the resultant livestock. He promotes organic gardening and composting, and supporting local farmers. He shares fascinating chicken lore from the millennia that will fascinate even those with no interest in birds.

Since January 2006, Deconstructing Dinner has been reaching listeners around the world through dozens of radio stations and via the show's web site and weekly podcast.

Now at its 100th episode, this broadcast marks the fourth in a series that has been capturing highlights of past broadcasts alongside musical accompaniments.

Through a careful handpicking of highlights, this 100th episode acts as a collage of broadcasts aired between early May 2007 and late August 2007. The segments have been mixed alongside a soundtrack of music from Nelson, British Columbia's Adham Shaikh and his Dreamtree Project; Germany's Hendrik Weber and his Pantha du Prince project and England's Mark Hillier and his ishq project.

The guest host for this broadcast is Kootenay Co-op Radio's Bob Olsen.

A special thank you to all of the volunteers and staff at Kootenay Co-op Radio CJLY for having laid the foundation for Deconstructing Dinner to reach this important milestone.